A comparison of clinical and histopathologic features of childhood malignant lymphoma in Uganda

Abstract

One‐hundred seventy‐two Ugandan children with lymphoma have been studied with a view to determining the value of morphology (histology and cytology) as a means of predicting clinical behavior and response to treatment. In the group where a morphological diagnosis of BL was made (147), duration of symptoms was shorter than in the other groups; 85% of patients had a tumor distribution considered to be typical of BL (jaws, orbits, intra‐abdominal, epidural, meningeal, or cranial nerve tumor). In the HL group (11), no patient had a tumor distribution typical of BL, while in the LL g4roup (14), 8 patients might have been considered to be BL on clinical grounds alone. Response to cyclophosphamide therapy was complete in 92% of the BL group, 27% of the LL group, and none of the HL group. Survival was significantly better in patients with BL (65% long term remission) than in the other groups (median survival 28 weeks). Anti‐VCA titers were invariably raised in the BL group, and sometimes raised in the other groups. We confirm that BL is a separate clinical entity and can in the majority of cases be clearly distinguished from other types of lymphoma on morphological grounds alone. In individual cases where difficulty in making a diagnosis arises, there is no final arbiter. We must await the development of more sophisticated techniques of biochemical, immunologic, and etiologic classification of tumors. Copyright © 1974 American Cancer Society